PC and Music News

MOTU unveils the UltraLite-mk3, the third version of MOTU's most compact and portable FireWire audio interface, featuring convenient bus powered operation and on-board mixing and effects.

Housed in a rugged, compact enclosure you can take anywhere, the UltraLite-mk3 is equally well-suited for studio and stage, with or without a computer. It provides flexible and mobile bus-powered operation, professional audio quality at samples rates up to 192 kHz and plenty of I/O, including two mic/instrument inputs, six line-level analog inputs, ten channels of analog output, stereo S/PDIF and a discrete stereo headphone output.

Features :

- 10 inputs / 14 outputs FireWire audio interface
- Two combo jacks provide hi-Z 1/4" guitar input or low-Z XLR mic input with phantom power, pad and gain
- Eight 24-bit 192kHz analog inputs and outputs on balanced/unbalanced 1/4" TRS jacks
- Precision Digital Trim - Digitally controlled analog trim on all analog inputs
- Stereo 24-bit 96kHz S/PDIF in/out
- CueMix FX - flexible 10 input/14 bus mixer with on-board DSP effects, including reverb with sends/returns, plus EQ and compression on every input and output
- Front panel headphone jack with volume control
- Bus-powered
- Stand-alone operation
- Includes drivers for Mac & PC, including ASIO, WDM, Wave, GSIF, Core Audio, and Core MIDI. Supports all popular Mac and Windows audio software

Pricing and availability to be announced.

Ueberschall announces the availability of Crunkzilla, a new "mammoth release" powered by their famous Elastik Player.

Produced by Tuny Chris and Marc Steinmeier (Kanye West, Eminem, Christina Aguilera, etc...), Crunkzilla provides 2 GB of Crunk-based grooves and shots with 40 construction kits ranging in tempo from 67 to 145 BPM.

Crunkzilla is available now for Mac OS X and Windows in VST, AU and RTAS formats at a retail price of $119/€99/£69.

DSK Music has just released DSK Indian DreamZ - a free Indian sound module VST instrument plug-in for Windows which includes Sitar, Sarod, Veena, Tar, Tampura, and Tabla.

Features :

- Velocity response.
- Amp. envelope and micro-detuner.
- HP/LP Filter.
- MIDI automation.

The d16 Group unveils Fazortan, the next release in their "Silver Line" of effects plug-ins.

Basically Fazortan is a controllable space phaser based on a retro phaser from the 70s but it has been expanded to take advantage of the flexibility software can provide.

Features :

- True emulation of classic analog all-pass phase shifter.
- 2 full controllable LFOs.
- Unique sound different from the others digital phasers.
- Presets organised into groups.
- MIDI learn function.
- 64-bit internal processing.
- No harmonic distortions at output.

Fazortan will be available at the end of this month for both PC and Mac in VST and VST/AU formats respectively. It is currently available for pre-order priced at €29. Note that audio examples are available.

Digidesign has announced the immediate availability of specially-priced Massive Pack 7 and Massive Pack Pro 7 mixing and sound processing plug-in bundles, exclusively for Pro Tools|HD users.

Inspired by overwhelming response to earlier MassivePack bundles, the new MassivePack 7 and MassivePack Pro 7 bundles offer registered Pro Tools|HD owners an opportunity to get significant savings on eight of the most in-demand Digidesign Development Partners plug-ins from Eventide, TC Electronic, Abbey Road, Brainworx, and more, as well as a choice of eight more plug-ins from Digidesign's own collection, including Eleven, Digidesign's acclaimed new guitar amp emulation plug-in, ReVibe, Reel Tape Suite, and more.

In addition, the upgraded MassivePack Pro 7 includes an HD Accel card (in PCI or PCIe format) and two additional plug-ins from TC Electronic. Both bundles are Windows XP- and Mac- compatible; many of the plug-ins are also compatible with Digidesign VENUE live sound systems.

MassivePack 7 and Massive Pack Pro 7 are available through authorized Digidesign Pro Tools|HD dealers.

Pricing :
- MassivePack 7 MSRP (USD): $1,295
- MassivePack Pro 7 (PCI) MSRP (USD): $3,495
- MassivePack Pro 7 (PCIe) MSRP (USD): $3,495

Sonoma Wire Works announces the launch of RiffWorks T4, a free edition of RiffWorks guitar recording and online collaboration software. With RiffWorks T4, musicians can record ideas at the moment of inspiration, quickly create complete songs with drums and effects, easily collaborate online with musicians around the world for free, and cast tunes to RiffWorld.com.

A free level of online collaboration is included with RiffWorks T4, which allows up to four musicians to collaborate on a song and chat simultaneously. RiffWorks loop-based recording workflow allows collaboration without latency or distance issues. As a track is recorded, it streams to other players and is perfectly in sync with the drums. All contributions are saved on RiffWorld.com and can be opened later in RiffWorks to continue recording. An unlimited number of musicians may contribute to a song (4 at a time). Mac and PC musicians worldwide are creating songs together online no matter how far apart they live.

Features :

- Automatic track creation and loop recording with 4 layers plus drum loops
- 7 effects (Wah, Multi-band Compression & Distortion, Modulation, Delay, Reverb, Compression, and British Style EQ)
- InstantDrummer with adjustable intensity and variation
- Online music collaboration - record songs with people around the world for free
- RiffWorld.com song posting and collaboration community
- "Quick Start" tutorial in 14 languages
- IK Multimedia's AmpliTube® Duo LE guitar amp and effects plug-in
- Gallo Engineering's Studio Devil BVC amp model plug-in

For more information, please visit the link below :